PDEA agents shut down drug den in North Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — State agents shut another clandestine drug den here Thursday just as two barangay officials suspected of trafficking shabu eluded arrest in nearby Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.

Juvenal Azurin, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Friday five men were arrested by PDEA-BARMM agents for operating a drug den in Purok Krislam in Barangay Poblacion II here.

The suspects, Theng Paidowamama Rakim, Nasser Balabaran, Radjid Kampang Dakula, Ameril Ali Kansi and Jayrald  Sabile, are now clamped down at the detention facility of PDEA-BARMM.

They were cornered by combined PDEA-BARMM agents, personnel of the Cotabato City police office and members of the Philippine Navy’s 2nd Marine Battalion right in their drug den in a secluded area in Barangay Poblacion II northeast of Cotabato City.

PDEA-BARMM agents found P100,000 worth of shabu and drug sniffing paraphernalia in the drug den, owned by Rakim, a known large-scale shabu trafficker, and his four accomplices.

A barangay chairman, Daidtog Samama, and his subordinate-councilor, Imelda Matulik, both eluded arrest by agents from PDEA-12 who raided their houses in Barangay Balacayon in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato Thursday.

The operation supposedly meant to put Samama, incumbent chairman of Balacayon and Matulik, also a present member of the barangay council, was launched by PDEA-12 after receiving tips from neighbors purporting their involvement in drug trafficking activities.

PDEA-12 agents found more than 100,000 worth shabu in the adjoining houses of Samama and Matulik.

Two of the duo’s alleged shabu couriers, Nasrudin Usman and Mohaiman Sabang, were arrested.